Ribbon cutting at in-patient hospice center set for Sunday

By Amy Lock, Halifax Media ENC

Published: Wednesday, June 19, 2013 at 05:18 PM.

In addition to the initial 10 patient rooms, the house will include a family room with fireplace; a home office/study with fireplace; a children’s room with special activity areas for all ages; a conference/counseling room; a chapel; a full family kitchen and dining area and sunrooms.

Terminally ill patients and their families will soon have a local place to receive care when staying at home is no longer a viable option.

With the closest hospice home previously more than 100 miles away, patients referred to in-patient care have not had convenient access to a dedicated place to continue hospice care through their final days. Families and friends had to travel long distances, often hours, just to share precious time with their loved ones in a hospice-centered environment.

Hospice provides palliative (comfort) care rather than curative care for terminally ill patients. Hospice care attends to the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of patients and their loved ones. In addition to making sure that the patients’ symptoms are managed, an entire hospice care team addresses the many facets of a terminal illness with counselors, a chaplain, nurses, volunteers, social workers, as well as physicians, to make sure patients and their loved ones are supported in a comprehensive manner.

Most hospice patients remain at home with the assistance of hospice staff. However, more than a third will ultimately be referred to inpatient care. Now, when patients’ circumstances or symptoms require their physicians to make that referral, Crystal Coast Hospice House and operating partner 3HC will provide specially trained medical staff, social workers, spiritual advisers and volunteers to help deal with the physical and emotional challenges associated with the final stages of their illnesses.

3HC, an Eastern North Carolina nonprofit with 32 years of experience in providing home, health and hospice care, which has been operating the Kitty Askins Hospice Center in Goldsboro for the past 17 years, will operate the facility. CCHH will continue to own the hospice house and, as owner, will be able to ensure that the hospice house is well-maintained, well-furnished and comfortable for patients and their families.

Hospice care is a reimbursable medical expense and is covered by private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid.

NEWPORT — A ribbon cutting and open house for the SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House is planned for Sunday from 3-5 p.m. The public is invited to attend this celebration.

The site is located at the corner of Chatham Street and McQueen Avenue in Newport, just off U.S. 70.

The SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House, so named to honor the $1 million donation from the State Employees Credit Union Foundation, will serve a five-county area (Carteret, Craven, Jones, Pamlico and Onslow) as an inpatient hospice care facility for terminally ill patients whose acute symptoms who can no longer be managed through hospice care at home and who do not wish to spend their final days in a hospital or nursing facility.

The SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House will be approximately 12,700 square feet, situated on an 11-acre tract conveniently accessible from all service areas. The site includes a wooded federal conservation easement that enhances privacy and serenity.

“The SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House will address hospice patients’ needs 24/7 with varying levels of treatment for acute respite and residential hospice,” said Robin Nelson, executive director. “We have made plans for an additional wing but will not be able to consider expansion until the first year due to state regulations.

“When earnest work for a certificate of need and construction funding began three years, there was a state-identified need for 17 acute care beds. Since that time, the need has grown to 22 acute care beds showing the growing need for this facility.”

While an initial construction estimate to build a 10,000-square-foot facility was more than $4 million, the CCHH secured the site and finalized the plans to construct a 12,700-square-foot facility, and set a fundraising goal of $5 million to cover increasing construction materials costs, the additional size of the hospice home, construction of a fully furnished turnkey facility and provide for ongoing maintenance.

In addition to the initial 10 patient rooms, the house will include a family room with fireplace; a home office/study with fireplace; a children’s room with special activity areas for all ages; a conference/counseling room; a chapel; a full family kitchen and dining area and sunrooms.

Terminally ill patients and their families will soon have a local place to receive care when staying at home is no longer a viable option.

With the closest hospice home previously more than 100 miles away, patients referred to in-patient care have not had convenient access to a dedicated place to continue hospice care through their final days. Families and friends had to travel long distances, often hours, just to share precious time with their loved ones in a hospice-centered environment.

Hospice provides palliative (comfort) care rather than curative care for terminally ill patients. Hospice care attends to the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of patients and their loved ones. In addition to making sure that the patients’ symptoms are managed, an entire hospice care team addresses the many facets of a terminal illness with counselors, a chaplain, nurses, volunteers, social workers, as well as physicians, to make sure patients and their loved ones are supported in a comprehensive manner.

Most hospice patients remain at home with the assistance of hospice staff. However, more than a third will ultimately be referred to inpatient care. Now, when patients’ circumstances or symptoms require their physicians to make that referral, Crystal Coast Hospice House and operating partner 3HC will provide specially trained medical staff, social workers, spiritual advisers and volunteers to help deal with the physical and emotional challenges associated with the final stages of their illnesses.

3HC, an Eastern North Carolina nonprofit with 32 years of experience in providing home, health and hospice care, which has been operating the Kitty Askins Hospice Center in Goldsboro for the past 17 years, will operate the facility. CCHH will continue to own the hospice house and, as owner, will be able to ensure that the hospice house is well-maintained, well-furnished and comfortable for patients and their families.

Hospice care is a reimbursable medical expense and is covered by private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid.